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Karen Radford: We adopted Ayla through Secondhand Hounds [Eden Prairie] about five years ago. She was found wandering in a ditch. We don’t know her exact mix, but we speculate Jack Russell and West Highland Terrier. True to her Terrier type, she’s excellent at hunting up vermin, and she still loves wandering in ditches. One of my hobbies is to train dogs for sports like agility and flyball. So although this is Ayla’s acting debut, she was very amenable to training.

Bark: Musa, could you tell us about directors or movies that have influenced your filmmaking?

Musa: There are neo-realism films that focus on a dog, especially Vittorio De Sica’s Umberto D., about an older man and a dog, although in that story, he wanted to get rid of the dog so he could commit suicide. And then there was a 2008 American film, Wendy & Lucy, about a woman who has to give up a dog in order to save herself.

I was inspired by those films, but I think that oftentimes, it’s easy to be sentimental with dogs and to use them to manipulate audiences, to tug at their hearts. I deliberately didn’t push that too hard. In some films, the dog dies or goes through some brutality, and I also didn’t want this film to be about that. I know people will see that this film is about a refugee and a dog and think that something really devastating will happen, but it doesn’t go there. I wanted to tell a story that was more lighthearted and healing for the people watching it.

Bark: Even though we know little of the main characters’ backstories, they feel multidimensional. Was much of the filming off script, or improvised?

Musa: There was some of that. When I wrote the screenplay, there were certain things I thought were simple, things a dog would just do, like barking; I didn’t realize that it’s a skill that has to be trained. So a lot was understanding what we had to prepare Ayla for and, importantly, what she was up for doing. There was a scene where she was supposed to jump and run around and she didn’t feel like it at that moment, so we had to find a way to work around her. She can’t take direction from me. It was more about respecting where she was, and trying to shape scenes to where she wanted to be.

Bark: Karen, how did you go about training Ayla for more scripted scenes —for example, when she needed to jump into the bag?

Karen: We didn’t have much time between when we were selected and when we shot the film, so we worked on the basics. For the bag-jumping, she had breakfast in her bag every morning. I have another dog, and they would have a competition to see who got to be in the bag. We made that bag really rewarding. We practiced throwing a shirt over her, having different people pick her up, having her ride with someone in a wheelchair. The challenge was that we didn’t know what would happen from day to day, or where the scenes would be filmed, so we didn’t have a chance to visit beforehand. As Musa said, we just had to work with the challenge that dogs don’t generalize. Even if I had her do a behavior at home, that didn’t mean she would do it the same way in an apartment or in a park.

Bark: There’s a scene where Adan bathes Ayla in a bucket. Did you have to train specifically for that?

Karen: One of the challenges of that scene was that she wasn’t allowed to shake [the water coming off her is considered “unclean”]. I can’t take credit for actually teaching Ayla not to shake when wet. However, I taught her a rock solid “watch me,” which we used when she had to stand unattended in the bucket, and I taught Barkhad how to handle her when he was bathing her so she wouldn’t shake all over him. After the scene was done and Barkhad was out of range, Ayla was allowed to shake to her heart’s content.

Musa: Karen brought that bucket to the set. I have to commend her for being more than just the owner/ trainer. She helped with props and other things. It made the movie better —having someone on-set like that to collaborate was really great.

Bark: Tell us about the cultural divide over the concept of pet-keeping.

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For a dog to get a part in a film project often involves having the good luck of meeting the requirements of size, color and breed. However, there are tricks your dog can master that could help land a part. Dogs need to be social and have a solid stay in the sit, down or stand position. They should also be trained from a distance because most of the time, you can’t be right next to your dog when shooting is in progress. Hand signals are best, especially when sound is required.

Debi Pool, of Animal Talent Pool, provided a list of some of the actions that were needed on command in the past: “Put head down, fetch, hold an item while in a sit or stand, dead dog, speak, eat on command, go to mark, come from mark, come through door and stop at mark, dig, scratch, tug on pant leg, lift leg to pee, skateboard, roller skate, wear clothing, sleep in a hammock, smell flowers, sit with other animals, walk with other animals, have air blown in face to get hair moving, have toenails painted or trimmed, be shampooed, get a haircut, and swim, just to name a few. Your dog does not need to know everything. He/she just needs to be willing to learn new things.”

Much of Ayla’s role was simply to be a good girl and hang out with the actor, but she did need a few special skills for her movie career. She needed to have a strong sit and down stay in a variety of non-standard locations, a bark on command, a reliable recall, the ability to watch or look at someone, and a willingness to get into and ride around in a box or duffle bag. None of these activities are difficult, but they demonstrate the value of clicker training, shaping and generalization skills.

Just as important is the trusting relationship that is developed when working with and training your dog. Using positive reinforcement methods can help you develop good behavior and a trusting relationship, transforming your dog into a star both on-screen and off.